This “Upcycled” Ladder On Craigslist Might Be the Stupidest Thing On the Internet

Sometimes you feel good about the world. Sometimes you wake up in the morning and the sun is shining through your windows and you congratulate yourself on taking out your contacts the night before because now your eyes aren’t dry and you don’t need to worry about your lenses having fused directly to your corneas and so, yeah, everything is good with the world. But then, you go on twitter (why do you do that so early in the morning, before even leaving bed? what is wrong with you?) and you discover that you shouldn’t feel good about the world, and you especially shouldn’t feel good about your corner of the world, which is Brooklyn, because stupid, stupid things are going down in Brooklyn. Things like old ladders with burlap covered boards being put up for sale on Craigslist for $395. That kind of stupid. I mean, you thought the anti-rape underwear was bad (and it is!) but this might be worse. Ugh. What a world.

This ladder and boards combo is described in the listing as being a “rustic ladder shelving unit,” which has the benefit of being easily transportable due to the fact that the burlap-covered boards aren’t attached to the frame, so the whole thing can be folded right up and taken to your home. Convenient! And all for under (but just under!) $400? What a ripoff steal!

When I first saw this listing, I was annoyed that anyone would actually attempt to sell something like this, and my annoyance was compounded by the fact that the seller is from Bushwick. I mean, why does this kind of thing always have to come out of Brooklyn? But then I paused. Maybe it’s a joke! After all, this ad defies parody…so maybe it is parody! Unfortunately, I don’t think so. The seller has an Etsy shop, upon which the ladder and several other ridiculously over-priced items (like a $725 “upcycled bar cart” and a $450 dirty, small metal shelf ) are for sale, leading me to believe that this ladder shelving unit is being sold in earnest. Which, I get that a sucker is born every minute and that a fool and his money are soon parted and the million other cliches that apply to consumer scenarios like this, but I find it next to impossible to believe that anyone would ever buy this ladder shelving unit. And yet, the seller actually has two of them listed. And it looks like he’s been running his Etsy shop for years. And he has very positive feedback. So maybe I know nothing. That’s certainly possible. I guess, as it turns out, the world—despite my sun-filled morning—is a dark and terrifying place. Or, at least, Craigslist is. Super terrifying.